Blake Anthony is enjoying quite a summer on the tennis courts. Two weeks after sweeping the boys’ 16s singles and boys’ 18s doubles titles at the Junior Open in La Canada, the Palisadian led Southern California Renegade to the 16 Northwest Zone Team Championships last Sunday in Salt Lake City, Utah. Anthony, a sophomore at Loyola High, went 5-0 in singles during the week, beating Sam Ho of Temple City, 6-3, 6-4, in the final. He also posted two doubles wins earlier in the tournament to help Renegade capture first place out of 12 teams representing Hawaii Pacific, Intermountain, Northern California, Southwest, and Southern California. Renegade beat another Southern California team, Maverick, by a 10-8 score in the championship match. Earlier in the tournament, Renegade earlier had knocked off another Southern California team, Rustler, 14-4, which was in the same flight. Palisades High players Alex Giannini and Spencer Pekar led Team Rustler, with Giannini notching three singles wins and four doubles wins and Pekar also netting singles and doubles wins. On Day Three of the competition, Anthony edged Giannini, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5, in one of the best singles matches of the entire tournament. Anthony’s Renegade teammates included Julian Ruffin, Henry Craig, Marcus Nalley, Jayson Amos, Hikaru Minami, Lauren Stratman, Lauren Marker, Fiorella Coria, Monica Robinson, Meghan Dizon and Monica Pastor. Each team is comprised of six boys and six girls, all 16 years or younger.
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